Belgian Rail: 170 interventions due to incidents each day

Last year, security teams of Belgian Rail (NMBS) had to do some 62,000 interventions after reports of incidents on the train, in the station or at train stops. That equals some 170 interventions each day. "This is a lot", Erik Sclep of the NMBS Holding admits. "But don't forget we have some 750,000 passengers on average each day."

Wed 03 Apr 2013 12:52

"It can be about a case of aggression, a train guard being confronted with fare-dodgers, hooliganism etc.", explains Erik Sclep. "If we have an incident, the Securail teams decide whether they will go out to intervene with a security team or not."

Last weekend saw the latest serious case of aggression, as a group of youngsters attacked a train guard near the station of Schaarbeek. The youngsters had got on the train in nearby Vilvoorde and could not present a valid ticket. The train guard had to be taken to hospital, all train passengers had to get off and move to another train.